


Life's Distractions

by ConfessionForAnotherTime (MagpieCrimes)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angry Sex, Angst and Porn, Bottom Marrow, Coming Untouched, Creampie, Fist Fights, Grief/Mourning, Grinding, Hair-pulling, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Previous Fair Game, fuck the pain away, tail pulling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieCrimes/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: Getting the hell out of Atlas with a big red target on your back wasn’t what Qrow had in mind. Ruby had been able to help in breaking him and Robyn out with the help of Marrow, who seemingly had joined their ragtag group just in time to see where his true loyalties lied. Qrow sat in the corner of one of the empty rooms after Robyn left, rejoining her Huntresses, and ran his fingers over the broach that he had taken from Clover before the Atlesian guards arrested him. The blood had since been washed off, leaving him feeling like a little more of Clover was gone. Brooding in a spare room suited him fine.
Relationships: Marrow Amin/Qrow Branwen
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Life's Distractions

Getting the hell out of Atlas with a big red target on your back wasn’t what Qrow had in mind. Ruby had been able to help in breaking him and Robyn out with the help of Marrow, who seemingly had joined their ragtag group just in time to see where his true loyalties lied. Qrow sat in the corner of one of the empty rooms after Robyn left, rejoining her Huntresses, and ran his fingers over the broach that he had taken from Clover before the Atlesian guards arrested him. The blood had since been washed off, leaving him feeling like a little more of Clover was gone. Brooding in a spare room suited him fine.

Marrow had his own set of problems with the majority of the RWBY crowd eyeing him suspiciously. 

“Ya know what? I’m just gonna help where I can and keep out of your way unless you need me.” He could hear them talking about him, thanks to his heightened faunus hearing.  _ We don’t know if Ironwood sent him to spy on us. _ The words hung on Marrow and he drooped his head, hugging his knees. Damned if you do and Damned if you don’t. He spent the rest of that first evening sitting in a room by himself. He knew Ironwood would be sending people after him and even with his best people, Ironwood being down him and Clover would be a blow to that special force he had groomed. 

“And now I’m alone,” Marrow said to no one. 

He eventually moved himself out of the front entryway after much of the household had gone to sleep, eager to help in some way but also feeling entirely out of place considering. 

“You know, I told them that you didn’t want to fight me,” Weiss mentioned as she slipped out of the shadows and brought Marrow some hot tea. “Also, we can use all the help we can get. We’ll be moving again tomorrow but I don’t know where yet. You should try to sleep though.”

Marrow grasped the cup, sipping at the warm liquid and considering her words. Weiss sat not far from where he had been sitting, her eyes focused on the far off snow that continued to fall around Mantle. 

“None of us have a good spot in this,” she told him, turning back around to face him. “My sister gave us the opportunity to run and you know Winter well enough. She didn’t want to call anyone in to take us to jail, but I know where her loyalties lie. It’s good to know you decided where yours are too.” Weiss turned back to the window. “Go sleep. We have room in the second room on the right.”

Marrow nodded and got up after finishing his drink, bumping into Qrow on his way down the hallway. 

“Fucking watch it,” Qrow grumbled under his breath, shoving Marrow back into the wall. “You don’t see me running into people.”

Marrow grit his teeth and let him pass, narrowing his eyes before collapsing into the bed that would give him the most fitful sleep he had endured in a long time. 

\---

_ Oh Marrow. You have to work with your semblance more. Like I said, a good Huntsman is appreciated by the locals. _ Marrow’s eyes snapped open at Clover’s words, and a blush spread across his cheeks as he realized he was hard in a house full of people he had only recently met. He couldn’t walk out there like this.  _ Think unsexy thoughts. _

“Hey, you. Get up. For some reason, we’re being set up to scout out the next house we can crash in,” Qrow barked at him, and his erection wilted immediately at the idea of being stuck with this grump for much of the day.  _ Come on Marrow. It’s a scouting mission. You can do this, even if he’s an asshole. _

Marrow packed a small set of supplies, looking over to Qrow. 

“You’re going to need to change. If you go around looking like a military dog, people will notice you.” Qrow crossed his arms across his chest. 

“It’s not like I brought any with me. Do  _ you _ have some spare clothes I can change into or is this you being helpful?”

Qrow rolled his eyes and Weiss came in with a non-descript pair of black pants for him to change into as well as a dark navy shirt. 

“You’ll need to lose the ascot too.”

“It’s a  _ bandana _ , Qrow. But I can put it away for now. I want to get a proper change of clothes too.”

Weiss looked between the two of them and handed the clothes to Marrow. “Whatever. You two make out on your own time  _ after _ I leave.” Marrow stared after her, seeing an entirely different side of this mismatched group after they had left Atlas Academy. At least back there, they had a sense of… he couldn’t even call it normal. But this was just weird.  _ Why would she assume they were going to make out? Did she know about… Clover? She couldn’t know. _

“Are you going to change or are you going to just stare after her?” Qrow brushed against him again as he left the room, and Marrow shut the door behind him. Something about Qrow didn’t sit right. Yeah, they had been introduced as Ironwood’s friends. He had spoken of them fondly before the General moved his position to completing his mission at any cost. Now with Salem coming in, he had to devise a plan with the runaways that could work? It was all ten levels of confusing. Marrow absently slipped the shirt over his head, and switched out his pants, relacing his boots. He opened the door and emerged from the room. 

“Now can we go?”

\---

Looking for a new place to hold up while Salem brought her army down on them was proving easier than anticipated. Blake, Yang, and Weiss had gone scouting for food and other supplies, wanting to make sure they had enough food for a few nights as soon as they found a new place to hold up. Ren, Nora, and Jaune held a perimeter from within the house, making sure that the only person who got in was Oscar, once he found his way back to them. He had called over with his scroll but that didn’t leave much for them to go on if they were trying to keep their location secret. Marrow and Qrow kept in communication with the base back at home, keeping Maria updated with what they found. 

Once Marrow and Qrow found a suitable place to set up for the night, Qrow went to look through the cupboards for something to eat, as they had been out for most of the day. 

“Do you have a problem with me or something?” Marrow asked, leaning against the entryway to the kitchen. 

Qrow looked up from the cupboard, blinking at him slowly. “I don’t have a problem with you.”

“Because that’s not how you’re acting. You’re acting like you have a problem with me.” Marrow uncharacteristically puffed himself up, wanting to make himself seem more intimidating. 

“I just don’t know if I trust you yet. You were one of James’ lapdogs and while he and I were friends, that isn’t really the case at the moment, is it?” Qrow snarled. He jerked his head in the direction of the living room. “Come on. We have a job to do. Let’s do it and get everyone. I gotta make sure the kids are safe.”

Marrow nodded, backing away from the mounting tension. He didn’t want to fight with Qrow, but joining their ranks hadn’t been the easiest transition. With Clover gone, the AceOps were sent into disarray. Harriet took her position at Ironwood’s side and Elm followed, with Vine soon after. Marrow had found himself alone as he slipped out later that night without much more than the clothes on his back. Money could only get him so far and Ironwood wasn’t exactly kind to those he perceived as slighting him. 

Now he got to deal with Qrow being prickly, which was understandable. He and Clover had grown close over the short time they had been in Atlas, but it shouldn’t leave that much of an impact right? They knew the risks of taking on a serial killer. Robyn knew them too. Marrow stayed too much inside his own head and Qrow snapped his fingers in front of Marrow’s face to snap him out of it. 

“Yo, Marrow, I’m heading upstairs. Keep an eye out down here in case anyone shows up.”

“Right.” Marrow folded his arms in front of him, his lips pressing into a thin line. He missed Clover too, but he had also trained with him for over a year at this point. So what gave Qrow the right to act this way? Was it the kids? Marrow perked up as the wind blew past the house, the protection from Mantle’s walls thin. Salem’s forces hadn’t made their way over this way just yet so they should be safe here for the time being. Give them some space to gather everyone and supplies before going back to… Was there anywhere to go back to? 

“If you’re just going to sit there and look out the window, I could have just left you back with Maria. Jaune and Ren could use more scouting. What the hell’s eating you anyway?”

The question bit Marrow harder than he realized when he had his weapon in his hand faster than realizing he had drawn out Fetch in the first place. 

“What the hell is eating me?” Marrow snarled, getting his face inches from Qrow’s after coming down the stairs. “You and those kids show up and yeah, they were huntsmen and huntresses in training and pull some strings to get them pulled up to our rank. They’re green as hell and they prove it with each battle that they fail at. Telling Robyn about the communications array? Trusting people they have no business trusting? I don’t know about you, but your judgement has been way off since all of you arrived. Do you get that? Are you seeing this as clearly as I am? I’m on an elite fighting force and you bring in children to help fight a war.”

“You  _ were _ a part of an elite fighting force. Now your leader is dead and the rest of you have nothing to show for it. As for the kids, they bested you. So what’s your point?”

Marrow’s fist connected with the side of Qrow’s face and he found himself on the floor soon after, his cheek throbbing from where Qrow had hit him back in return. To say he had planned his actions out would assume Marrow had a plan beyond emotional reaction. In reality, he had nothing planned beyond that initial punch. Qrow threw him to the ground, straddling his hips and holding his wrists to the floor. 

“My point is fuck you! I don’t even know what Clover saw in you but he went and let himself get killed  _ for you _ instead of being there for his team!” Marrow regretted the words as soon as they left his lips and Qrow’s eyes narrowed. 

“You don’t know anything about me or about me and Clover, so fuck off.” Qrow got up from the floor, leaving Marrow down there, confused and more than a little turned on by the entire interaction. Marrow knew he was capable in a fight. Clover had shown him that on more than one occasion. He just wanted to know why.

“You want to know why?”

Marrow’s eyes went wide when he realized he had said that last part out loud. The back of his head collided with the wall behind him. Qrow’s hand circled his neck, giving the threat of control held back by anger… sadness. 

“I don’t… make friends easily, Marrow. I don’t let people get close because when they do, bad things happen. I told him that at the beginning and he didn’t believe me because…. Whatever reason. What matters is I ended up being right and now I’m here, alone, threatening you like it means something when it doesn’t.” Qrow’s hand slumped off of Marrow’s throat, and he turned. “Radio the others. Let them know we found a place to hide while we figure out the best way to attack Salem from this angle. See if you can hail James. He might be too far gone, but he might listen to you.” Qrow took a few steps toward the hallway, leaving Marrow stunned in the bedroom. “Or maybe he won’t and this is one of our last nights alive.”

\---

Marrow made the call, sending out a beacon to Ruby and the others of where they had taken up refuge. It would be a few hours before the group finally made it, running under the cover of night and making final repairs to weapons. 

Marrow slid into the bedroom across the hall from where Qrow had pinned him before, taking a seat on the edge of the bed with Qrow’s back to him. 

“You know, Clover took a chance on me.” Qrow kept his back to Marrow, ignoring the gentle wag of his tail against his side. “He didn’t need to take me on as his fifth operative, but he did because he saw potential in me. He gave that same look to you every time too. Whatever happened? He knew you would able to see it to the end, Qrow.” Marrow got up from the edge of the bed, drawing his lips into a thin line before taking his leave. With a gentle tug on his tail, Qrow moved faster than he could see, closing the door in front of him and effectively pinning him to it. Qrow tightened his grip on the faunus’ tail, tugging firmly but gently. 

“You want to know what he told me?” Qrow asked, his breath hot against Marrow’s ear. He shivered under the touch, secretly blessing whatever allowed him to hide the reaction to such a simple movement by trapping the front of him against the door. “He said on our last night together, ‘Qrow, if you live long enough, everywhere is haunted.’ And he’s right. Because everytime I see you, I can see his influence. I can see his actions. I can see that eagerness in you that radiated off of him.” Qrow released his tail and spun Marrow by the shoulders, facing him nose to nose. “There’s so much of him in you that I can’t shake it. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Marrow shook his head. “Keep living? He wasn’t the type to give up. Dumb luck makes you persistant.”

“And bad luck makes you crumble.” Qrow’s shoulders slumped and he moved to turn away from Marrow when a hand caught his shoulder and kept him from turning away. 

“If you see so much of him in me, I could stay with you tonight. At least until the others show up. So you aren’t alone.” Marrow’s tail twitched at his own words, giving him hope he could at least offer comfort. 

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Qrow started. Marrow reached out to grab his chin, guiding his eyes back towards him when Qrow tried to turn away again. 

“I didn’t say I was asking. Stay with me until they come. You shouldn’t be alone if you’re hurting this much. I miss him too.”

Qrow nodded and pressed his lips to Marrow’s misreading the overall intentions of his words, but Marrow took his lead anyway, giving Qrow solace in his moment of grief. Marrow brought his hand from Qrow’s chin to tangle in the hair at the base of his neck, pulling him close. Each of them were grieving in their own way. The solution just didn’t seem like it made much sense. 

Qrow stopped in the middle of a kiss, pushing Marrow back against the door. “This isn’t your first time, is it?” Marrow shook his head, pulling Qrow back in, tugging at his shirt. 

“No, don’t worry about that. Stop thinking,” Marrow demanded, sliding his hand down to unbuckle Qrow’s belt and taking his cock in his hand. Qrow paused at how direct Marrow decided to be, but rolled with it. Qrow took a few steps back and guided Marrow with him to sit back on the bed and pull the faunus into his lap. 

Thin fabric separated Qrow’s cock from Marrow’s pants and he groaned at the level of friction. Marrow rolled his hips, grinding himself down against Qrow. 

“This is a lot harder when you still have your pants on,” Qrow grumbled, feeling the shift as Marrow slid from his lap to stand. He kicked off his boots first, pulling down his pants and wriggling out of them. 

“Better?” he asked, slipping back onto Qrow’s lap with the same familiar thin fabric separate Qrow from the friction. Now, nothing else kept him from feeling Marrow’s soft skin against his, letting him trace a scar on Marrow’s thigh while the faunus still leaned in against him. 

“Yeah…” Qrow buried his face against Marrow’s neck, swallowing as he tried to lose himself in Marrow. He wasn’t the same, as Clover, but if he closed his eyes, he could swear it felt similar. 

Marrow kissed his way along Qrow’s neck, rocking his hips back against the very prominent erection pressing against his ass. He wagged his tail with more than a little glee.  _ You still got it, _ he thought to himself, pausing when Qrow’s hand grasped the back of his head. He pulled back, his mood sinking at the look on Qrow’s face. Qrow had thrown his arm over his eyes after Marrow had pulled away.

“Do you want to stop?” he asked, stilling his movements to sit on Qrow’s lap. 

“No.” Qrow pulled his arm back, and flipped their positions, moving Marrow until he was on his stomach on the bed and Qrow was pressed up behind him. That hard cock pressed against his ass and Marrow pushed back to meet it, wagging his tail hesitantly. “Not face to face. If you’re going to distract me, I can’t be thinking of him so much.” Qrow tilted his head to the side, grasping the base of Marrow’s tail and tugging slightly. A gasp escaped Marrow’s lips, and he bit them to silence himself, a sheen of embarrassment spreading across his cheeks. 

“Did not expect that,” Marrow stated and his cock twitched, now in that small space between the edge of the bed and his own thighs. From how he saw it, Qrow wouldn’t be able to reach him very well, not without him pushing back to help him out. 

“Do you have a problem with it?” Qrow asked, circling his fingers against Marrow’s hole with his other hand, while giving his tail another firm tug with the other. Marrow clenched his teeth, and by all accounts, he knew he had pre dripping onto the floor from that. The simple act of having his tail pulled was the uniquely linked to his first partner in his own Huntsman training, and well, four years is a long time to learn how much you like something. 

“Not in the slightest,” Marrow gasped out, pushing back against Qrow’s fingers. He could do with a little distraction himself, and with the fingers circling his entrance, it gave him something to focus on so he wouldn’t cum before Qrow even had a chance to fuck him. Qrow pressed a tooth against one of his canines, miming as if he was in deep thought as he produced a vial and tore it the top off of it with his teeth. He smeared the viscous liquid against Marrow’s opening and then pressed his fingers inside. Marrow groaned softly, the tip of his tail swaying from side to side with each push inside. 

“You’re quite the expressive one,” Qrow remarked, adding a third finger while he released his grasp from Marrow’s tail to prepare himself to sink into the head that his fingers were already relishing in. Marrow did little to quell the moans coming out of his mouth. He was appreciative and if anything, vocal about it. He didn’t think he was being that  _ loud _ . 

Soon, the fingers withdrew and Marrow felt something far more blunt press against him, pushing him open. He laid his face against the bed, catching little glimpses of Qrow behind him as he pushed inside him. His eyes shot open when Qrow took his opportunity to use Marrow’s tail to his advantage, grasping it firmly like he had done before and tugging Marrow’s hips back onto his cock. The gentle drag as Qrow pushed into him by pulling him back was exquisite, and his eyes fluttered shut as Qrow held him steady. He was pressed firmly inside him, holding his tail even firmer. Marrow saw stars cross the sides of his vision as Qrow rocked against him slightly, letting him get used to the change in girth from his fingers to his cock. Marrow whined softly, pressing back against the hips that shallowly ground into him.

“Needy,” Qrow stated as he pulled out of Marrow. He pushed back in quick, giving the faunus little time to adjust to the speed before stilling inside him again. “I’m going to take a step back.” Qrow shifted backwards and kneeled slightly, giving Marrow an appropriate base to use. “And you are going to follow. My. Lead.” Qrow’s other hand grasped Marrow’s right hip, holding tight and pushed him off of his shaft until only the tip remained inside of him. Marrow gasped, just feeling at this point when the drag as he sank back down was accelerated by Qrow pulling at his tail, making him come down and be spreaded onto his cock much faster than he had planned. This continued for some time, with Marrow still partly draped over the side of the bed, holding onto the rumpled covers while he kept nothing back. He was begging Qrow to fuck him harder, to make him his bitch in every sense of the word and to claim him. Qrow shook his head and kept his arm intensive workout going, chasing his own pleasure as the rookie operative gave him a much needed and very convincing distraction. 

With his hair falling out of his loose bun, Qrow let go of Marrow’s right hip, the faunus raising his hips to fuck himself against Qrow’s cock while Qrow pulled him back by his tail without prompting. He gathered Marrow’s hair together with one hand, pulling it back and making him shift in angle so he was inevitably speared on his cock with his neck and pelly exposed. 

“You want me to make you my bitch, and you haven’t even come close to helping me cum,” Qrow growled, getting far too into the faunus’ roleplay. He released his hair and Qrow found himself biting off more than he could chew. Marrow sped up his hips, using the bed to push himself back now. His hair fell around his face, obscuring his eyes slightly and making him look near feral as the moonlight filtered in through the window and caught off the shine. Instinctively, Marrow squeezed around Qrow, and Qrow responded by tugging his tail hard, filling him as Marrow came across his own thighs. Marrow panted, slumping slightly and started to lean forward more after Qrow’s hand released his tail. Qrow wound an arm around Marrow’s waist to keep him from toppling entirely, still rocking his hips shallowly as he pumped what remained of his cum out. Marrow squeezed around Qrow’s softening cock, finally catching his breath after several minutes. 

Qrow let him down gently, lifting his hips to help Marrow scramble onto the bed, cum messily leaking onto his thighs after Qrow pulled out. 

“Do you always? Make such a mess?” Marrow asked, taking the hand towel from Qrow’s outstretched hand, and bringing the cool cloth to his overheated skin. Marrow flipped the hand towel inside out, cleaning his thighs next, eyes wide after Qrow grabbed the towel from him to clean himself off. 

Qrow’s weight made the bed dip and Marrow leaned into it. He found himself comfortably pressed against Qrow’s lean muscle, matching his own. He laid there for several minutes, looking for words after an unexpected evening. 

“Sorry for punching you earlier,” Qrow said finally, bringing his hand up to brush over the mark on Marrow’s cheek. “It’s harder to cope when you can’t just drink away your problems.” Marrow nodded, and shrugged his shoulders. 

“It’s okay. I’m sorry too. I… it’s hard to see someone you look up to focus their attention away from you when you just thought you had them looking at you.” Marrow hid his face against Qrow’s shoulder, partly ashamed of his words. “I was jealous.”

“I was jealous of the five of you. You had James paying attention to you all the time and I get why you would want him to pay attention to you too.” Qrow brushed back Marrow’s hair from his face now that it had come free of the tie that normally kept it bound up. 

“Oh. I was talking about Clover.”

The two of them exchanged a look, then turned away from each other. Qrow knew Marrow wouldn’t fill the hole where Clover had carved out part of his heart. Marrow knew he never stood a chance against a skilled Huntsman like Qrow. Marrow sighed. 

“Is this why you wanted me to change?” Marrow asked, laying his head against Qrow’s bare shoulder. 

“Something like that. Like I told you, haunted. I can’t remember a time where I haven’t been haunted by my past. I was a fool to think I could start now.”


End file.
